Decoupage - a child led activity

Decoupage - this has been such a hit - and can be adapted for every age group
we had a ton of coffee drums and one rainy day.........

watered down PVA glue and old catalogues the kids literally tore strips out of the Tesco extra catalogue and painted the glue on the strips and away they went both kids enjoyed it so much M's was obviously more detailed and she was cutting shapes and patterns for hers D just enjoyed piling it on - certainly something I'd repeat - I'm saving these things for the winter time really and getting out when it's sunny and doing the garden and enjoying the few rays we do get!

I'm quite pleased today M had a friend she made at gymnastics over - a lovely little girl she's going over on Wednesday - her mother is an artist!! wheee!!
as they aren't from the UK we are swapping skills I will help with English - and she will do art!
This week it's been odd and quiet I've been overwhelmed with work - times like this I can't help but fret a little and there was once a time when it would fall apart and be a very tense time.
This week has been tense but all my own doing - I sat and had a chat with M about my commitments this week and the fact that I didn't have tons of spare time - she asked to play more on her games and do some learning in the evening instead which worked out well for me as well.
We have been reading "Cookie" by Jacqueline Wilson we finished it last night a fab read! I 'm not sure who wanted to read it more me or her!
Not sure what's next on the agenda but my reading to her is certainly helping her break out of her reading shell.

Fairy Doors - Salt dough

Today we really haven't done a great deal just basic pottering really it's been one of those annoying rain one minute sun the next days that good old Blighty is infamous for on days like this I like to do stuff - one of my favourite blogs has been "make today magical" she has many many cool ideas and this was one of them
Salt dough can be used is many many ways fairy doors pretend food robots numbers you name it I have no doubt a child could craft it out of salt dough!!


Mix together 4 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cups of salt and 2 cups of water. This makes enough for approximately 4 fairy doors, so make less if you don’t want that many. We used our leftover dough for play dough sits in the fridge well


so we kneaded the dough and made fairy doors - we just used cheap "value" flour
we baked in the oven at about 180 for 15 mins - realistically we should have left it a little longer they were still soft ish
we made doors and a "3" for Daniel's birthday and I made a little "thing" and stabbed out happy birthday that blew up a little so I made it into a balloon
with a skewer in the end


we painted with poster paints - these aren't waterproof so just inside models!
overall they all enjoyed playing with the dough both when wet and when I made plate sized discs to paint


these were for later on - sometimes we all need back up activities and these little paint pots come in things like model paint things he enjoyed it and it gave me 10 minutes to tidy up whilst he created his thing - he painted front and back!


I let M use the metallic paints and she glittered hers too!

a great easy to make throw together activity!

Tuesdays.........

I promised a real account of home ed,I found that most blogs were American, or a bit too fairy tale like or both.
Whilst I could take the basic principles on board I found myself wondering what happened when you had a new born cluster feeding a toddler who was having a mummy day a busy day with work,you're tired not to mention grumpy and have a child who wants to "do something"
When we first started if a day hadn't gone to plan then we'd have lots of strops and sulks I searched for advice but found it hard to get through to people that I couldn't just up and go out for a walk - people's favourite advice is go out more ! or buy .....
so what did we do? - worked through the sulks mostly and chatted lots about wants needs desires hopes and dreams of everyone - for me homeschooling was about re involving M being out all day every day I wonder if she felt a little left out these days she and D get along as well as most siblings but at first they both found each other oppressive and for a while we had to relocate to another room if I needed to do listening type work. I'm so thrilled though to see them playing together and being respectful of each other on the whole.
They love playing "buses" and "trains" they found my old train tickets and got bags and use the stairs as a platform and run round the house in different areas getting on buses and trains ( the sofa) it's hilarious to watch !
we do go out but we can't manage all day every day so, a while back I asked the local gymnastic teacher if she had space to do a specific home ed class a drop in type thing with no age restriction - she agreed and was thrilled with the response - we go every Tuesday she's doing well and earning BAGA awards.
So,Tuesdays we don't do a great deal.....
we go to the shops and buy any bits we need and have a raid of the charity shops for books mainly I can never quite believe the brilliant books we have got for 10p,50p
encyclopaedias who wants to be a millionaire junior body books how things work type books M prefers to read and do
Money is tight - that's no bad thing it's enjoyable mostly I feel it makes us appreciate things more we've had some GREAT things like craft gear to play and experiment with glass painting kits and knitting needles old clocks - to take apart and see the mechanisms
Clothes to play with - M wants to be a fashion designer so, she likes to cut up old clothes and make shapes and sew them onto her own clothes - I'm always impressed by her creativity ....
Then we come home on the bus we sometimes read a book together if it's quiet ish
other times we just natter or try to stop the baby leaping out of the wrap... whilst old ladies smile and say how cute it is!
we get home unpack have a late lunch - sometimes we pretend we are "ladies who lunch" as we gaze out to the garden
Then M plays on the laptop or plays in the garden if we've got something cool - like the ELC rocket launcher ( that is BRILLIANT!!) and we got hula hoops a few weeks back, I realised the other day we don't possess any electronic toys....
as they play I catch up with some work and Mark cooks dinner
what was I saying? .............